As can be said with any form of poker tournament, a strategy for playing guaranteed tournaments begins with determining your goals. If your goal is to simply get in the money, a tight/aggressive approach is usually best. Play quality starting hands, and make every penny you can when you have the best of it. Well-timed bluffs against tight players will need to be made from time to time as well. If you find yourself short-stacked close to the bubble, pick a hand and make a move. In big tournaments players will hang on for dear life, slowing down the action, and providing opportunities to steal blinds/antes. Don't do this unless you need to, but don't let yourself get blinded out.

If you play to win, there are way too many strategies to discuss than this space will allow. In general, the goal is to accumulate chips. Make well-timed bluffs, steal blinds, and confuse your opponents often enough to make them pay you off when you hold a big hand. Overbetting early in tournaments is a good idea when you feel your opponent is too weak to call any more than a small bet. If you can acquire a loose/bad table image early on, it can pay big dividends later when you have a real hand. For advanced strategy ideas in large field tournaments, we recommend Dan Harrington's three part series of books called 'Harrington On Hold'em'. In our opinion, they're the most thorough NL Hold'em tournament strategy books ever written.